Overview A Learning Festival for Book Buddies serves as the background where high school students utilize newly acquired skills of working and reading aloud with young children. Time management, organization, and presentation skills become crucial if this event is to be successful. Students invest in a lot of hard work and reap wonderful rewards.	For more about this special from Literacy Leaders for Life Long Learners e-mail Mary Ellen Bower, author and AT&T Teacher Disseminator.
Learning Standards Engage in effective discussions. Make effective presentations. Understand, analyze, evaluate, and respond to oral presentations.
Classroom Activities Students divide into three groups and assign organizational responsibilities in order to: Design and create three learning corners for Read Alouds based on a specific theme. Prepare a twenty minute lesson for each corner. ex: select a children's book reflecting theme of festival; make storyboards; and assemble visuals and props. Plan lesson presentations and time line. Write up steps in a Lesson Plan. Act as role models and practice with student groups. Develop Take Home Packets that younger children complete with parents.	Send Book Buddies e-mail invitations to the Learning Festival at the high school library. Continue e-mail correspondence to let little ones know what to expect. Divide Book Buddies into three groups on the day of the Learning Festival. Rotate youngsters from corner to corner every twenty minutes. Video tape Learning Festivals so high school students critique presentations and observe their interactions with youngsters. Analyze teaching techniques and sequence of events during follow-up sessions. Document results in Book Buddies Journals.
Community Activities As mentors become Reading Role Models, they teach younger children the importance of reading and introduce them to the wonders of high school.	Careers Students learn how to complete and implement a lesson plan with a live audience. They learn what teaching is really like; observing how they teach and how they react to children is fun. Respect for the teaching profession grows.
Materials Children's books, foam core, folders, art materials, decorations, Take Home Packets, Learning Festival Did I? sheets	Technology Students use scanners, Microsoft Word and Clip Art for story boards and worksheets; video the Learning Festival; e-mail Book Buddies.
Assessment Learning Festival Did I? Sheet assesses planning. Teacher observation, video tape, and journal reflections combine to evaluate the Learning Festival.	Web Sites Students continue to find good material at Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.